Second Wild West Billing

Pawnee Bill's Legend Lives On At Oklahoma Ranch

December 11, 1994|By Brian Downes. Special to the Tribune.

PAWNEE, Okla. — In his twilight years, Gordon W. Lillie, whose lifetime straddled two centuries, must have spent many hours pondering the monumental changes that had come to Oklahoma since he arrived in 1875. This was Indian Territory then and law was scarce. Open and untamed, it was inhabited by trappers, traders, bandits and some 2,500 Pawnee Indians who had relocated here from their homelands in Nebraska.

By 1889, Lillie was a leader in the "boomer" movement and was instrumental in opening the region to white settlement. In subsequent years he made himself a pile of money investing in land, cattle, oil and other ventures. From the veranda of his massive bungalow atop Blue Hawk Peak, he could survey his 2,000-acre Buffalo Ranch, the Black Bear River, the city of Pawnee and endless miles of cultivated prairie.

If all he had attained in life was wealth and prominent standing in the community, he probably would have rated a plaque on Pawnee's town square for his many acts of philanthropy, but Lillie deserved much more.

The state of Oklahoma and the city of Pawnee have assured future generations that "Pawnee Bill," the second most famous Wild West showman in the history of outdoor entertainment, will not be forgotten . . . at least not around these parts.

The Pawnee Bill Ranch Site, just outside of town, has immortalized its namesake and is as extravagant as he was. Tourists arrive here by the busloads to marvel at his resplendent mansion and to tour the lush acreage. Featuring Western ambience, the site is a tribute to Lillie's illustrious career and that vanished slice of Americana known as the Wild West show.

Describing his early years, Lillie recalled that, "Everybody had the itch to go West in those days, and I was no exception." Born in Bloomington, Ill., in 1860, he moved to Kansas with his family at age 13. Weaned on dime novel tales of Buffalo Bill, the youngster wasted no time in carving his own niche as a credible plainsman. For a year, he lived among the Pawnee Indians, absorbing their language and culture. Further adventures included hunting buffalo in the Texas Panhandle and driving cattle up the Chisholm Trail.

Lillie's talents as a linguist earned him a government job teaching school at the Pawnee Agency when he was 19. Except for his family, nearly everyone called him "Bill" (his middle name was William) but "Bill Lillie" was too difficult for his Indian pupils to pronounce, thus he became "Pawnee Bill."

When Col. William Frederick Cody (Buffalo Bill) assembled his first Wild West show in 1883, he hired Lillie as an interpreter for the Pawnees who traveled with the exhibition. Hailed as "White Chief of the Pawnees," he toured with Cody for two seasons.

The Wild West was playing Philadelphia when the young frontiersman was charmed by May Manning, a 13-year-old college girl who had come to visit the show. After a two-year courtship, mostly by mail, they were married, a union that lasted 50 years.

There's no getting away from the fact that in his time, as well as ours, Gordon Lillie was overshadowed considerably by Buffalo Bill. With his flowing locks, whiskers and beaded buckskins, he appeared in public as a smallish imitation of his boyhood hero. While Cody was on an extended tour of Europe, Lillie carried the connection a step further by mounting a show of his own, Pawnee Bill's Wild West.

Starring Pawnee Bill and featuring May as "World's Champion Woman Rifle Shot," the show was a ringer for Cody's and included cowboys, Indians, trick riders, steer wrestlers, lasso artists and loads of historical pageantry. Rather than ignoring the upstart, Cody's men waged a billboard war, plastering Lillie's posters with sheets proclaiming: "Wait for the big show, Buffalo Bill is coming."

The roster of shows using "Wild West" in their title eventually numbered about 100, but only Pawnee Bill ever gave Cody a run for the money. To broaden his appeal, Lillie added elements of the circus to his spectacle: snakes, crocodiles, ostriches and elephants. From around the world he gathered Singhalese dancers, Australian Bushmen and wild-riding Cossacks. But by 1908, Lillie had grown weary of the competition. Buffalo Bill needed a well-heeled partner, so they combined as Buffalo Bill's Wild West and Pawnee Bill's Great Far East-the "Two Bills" show.

A number of years earlier, Lillie had purchased a tract of land just outside of present-day Pawnee from his Indian friend Blue Hawk. He promptly put up a cabin and wintered here with May between tours. Profits from the show and other enterprises enabled them to develop the finest ranch in this part of the country. In 1910, with an eye toward retirement, the Lillies built a fabulous home of native stone, quarried from the ranch, which overlooked their entire domain.